Jadon Anthony, Igor Thiago and Fabio Carvalho all scored to help Brentford survive a painful night at Chelsea and secure their first Premier League win since the opening weekend.
Former Burnley winger Anthony scored with a header in the 61st minute, and Thiago scored his first league goal of the season seven minutes before the end of the game, defeating a Chelsea team that had barely made any progress.
Substitute Fabio Carvalho scored the third goal in stoppage time, leaving Xavi Alonso looking troubled on the Chelsea bench.
Alonso’s side looked to bounce back from defeat at Arsenal and a disappointing draw at home to Hull City but rarely threatened Cowichan Kelleher in the Brentford goal.
Pedro Neto had a shot blocked by Kelleher in the ninth minute, while Morgan Rodgers saw a shot blocked by Bees defender Yannick Schuster five minutes before the break in Chelsea’s only moments of hope in the first half.
Brentford’s performance wasn’t much better after a dull first 45 minutes. It took Keith Andrews’ side nearly 37 minutes to find a shot on target and when they did, Jehor Yarmolyuk’s shot set up Emiliano Martinez to make a routine save.
Anthony finally breaks the deadlock and shocks Chelsea
The second half was likely to follow a similar pattern, although Brentford had their chances to take a greater advantage – Anthony headed home despite the offside flag being raised.
However, he provided the breakthrough moment shortly after the hour. Mikkel Damsgaard’s left-wing corner kick was headed back by Yannick Schuster and Anthony scored his first Brentford goal unmarked from two yards out.
Chelsea had a good spell of possession after going behind but could do little with Joao Pedro out injured. Danny Welbeck was superbly organized in Brentford’s defence, while Rodgers was largely unknown. Cole Palmer is Chelsea’s best player, but even he struggles to make much of an impact.
Argentina international Valentin Barco, who had been booed all night for his side’s defeat to England in the World Cup semi-finals, had his call for a penalty rightly waved away before adding another goal on Brentford’s counterattack.
Chelsea collapse at the last minute
Kevin Schade was given a cross and although his shot was saved by Martinez, the ball fell to Thiago.
The Brazil international, who was left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s latest squad, celebrated wildly and received a yellow card for tearing his jersey.
Maxons Lacroix should have halved the arrears but headed in injury time and Carvalho showed how to finish, latching on to Schad’s deflected cross at the far post and firing the ball into the back of the net.
The win moves Brentford into third place The remaining games of the weekend.